The Plurilingualism Project: Tertiary Language Learning – German After English
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The Plurilingualism Project: Tertiary Language Learning – German after English COUNCIL CONSEIL OF EUROPE DE L’EUROPE Britta Hufeisen, Gerhard Neuner If the peoples of Europe are to live in harmony with their neighbours, if they are to communicate with and understand each other, the command of more than only one foreign language will be an increasingly important factor. For this reason both the Council of Europe and the European Union are demanding that their citizens should learn two foreign languages alongside their mother tongues. The Year of Languages 2001 was the stimulus for an investigation into how concepts of teaching and learning several languages could be developed and put into practice. The present project relates to the teaching and learning of foreign languages in the school context. Its aim is to develop general principles of tertiary language didactics and methodology within the framework of the multilingualism concept, and to present examples based on the sequence of languages “German after English”. For this reason, the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe and the Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes as project organisers have entered into a collaboration that also includes regional institutions that deal with the teaching of modern languages. COUNCIL CONSEIL OF EUROPE DE L’EUROPE The Council of Europe has forty-five member states, covering virtually the entire continent of Europe. It seeks to develop common democratic and legal principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals. Ever since it was founded in 1949, in the aftermath of the second world war, the Council of Europe has symbolised reconciliation. The Plurilingualism Project: Tertiary Language Learning – ISBN 92-871-5145-8 German after English Britta Hufeisen, Gerhard Neuner http://www.coe.int European Centre for Modern Languages E 25 / US$ 38 Council of Europe Publishing Centre européen pour les langues vivantes The Plurilingualism Project: Tertiary Language Learning – German after English Tertiary The Plurilingualism Project: Hufeisen, Neuner: The Plurilingualism Project: Tertiary Language Learning – German after English Hufeisen, Neuner: The Plurilingualism Project: Tertiary In 1994, upon the initiative of Austria and the Netherlands, with special support from France, eight states founded the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) as an Enlarged Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe. It was to become “a forum to discuss and seek solutions to the specific tasks and challenges that face them in the coming years and which will play a decisive role in the process of European integration”. At the time of writing, thirty-three states1 subscribe to the Partial Agreement. Following a successful initial trial period (1995-1998), the continuation of the activities of the Centre was confirmed by Resolution (98) 11 of the Committee of Ministers. The aim of the Graz Centre is to offer – generally through international workshops, colloquies and research and development networks and other expert meetings – a platform and a meeting place for officials responsible for language policy, specialists in didactics and methodologies, teacher trainers, textbook authors and other multipliers in the area of modern languages. The Plurilingualism Project: Tertiary Language Learning – German after English is published within the framework of the first medium-term programme of activities of the ECML (2000-2003). The ECML’s overall role is the implementation of language policies and the promotion of innovations in the field of teaching and learning modern languages. The publications are the results of research and development project teams established during workshops in Graz. The series highlights the dedication and active involvement of all those who participated in the projects and in particular of the group leaders and co-ordinators. 1 The 33 member states of the Enlarged Partial Agreement of the ECML are: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, United Kingdom. The Plurilingualism Project: Tertiary Language Learning – German after English Britta Hufeisen, Gerhard Neuner (editors) This project is the result of co-operation between the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe and Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes. European Centre for Modern Languages Council of Europe Publishing French edition: ISBN 92-871-5143-1 German edition: ISBN 92-841-5146-6 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic (CD-Rom, Internet, etc.) or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing from the Publishing Division, Communication and Research Directorate. The opinions expressed in this publication are not to be regarded as reflecting the policy of any government, of the Committee of Ministers or the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Cover design: Gross Werbeagentur, Graz Translation: Austria Sprachendienst, Vienna Print: Bachernegg, Kapfenberg Council of Europe Publishing F-67075 Strasbourg cedex ISBN 92-871-5145-8 © Council of Europe, May 2004 Table of contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 5 Britta Hufeisen, Gerhard Neuner I. Foundations ........................................................................................................ 7 2. A brief introduction to the linguistic foundations ............................................... 7 Britta Hufeisen 3. The concept of plurilingualism and tertiary language didactics ........................ 13 Gerhard Neuner 4. Language policies and plurilingualism ............................................................. 35 Hans-Jürgen Krumm II. Curricular and pedagogical-methodological implementation ..................... 51 5. The promotion of intercultural competence in tertiary language teaching: German after English ........................................................................................ 51 Martina Rost-Roth 6. Learning strategies for the L2 to L3 threshold: the minimum profile ............... 85 Ute Rampillon 7. Plurilingualism and immersion ....................................................................... 103 Christine Le Pape Racine 8. Bilingual teaching: immersion in Switzerland ................................................ 131 Claudine Brohy 9. Early English in German-speaking Switzerland .............................................. 153 Giuseppe Manno III. Visions ............................................................................................................ 173 10. Opening and welcoming speech by the organisers of the 15th Annual Conference 2017 of the Biel-Bienne Multilingualism/Plurilingualism Connection (Réseau Bienne Multilinguisme / Bieler Connection Mehrsprachigkeit) ........................................................................................... 173 3 1. Introduction Britta Hufeisen, Gerhard Neuner The project entitled "Learning more than one language efficiently: Tertiary language teaching and learning in Europe. Example: German as a subsequent foreign language after English" was carried out within the framework of the medium-term programme of activities 2000-2003 of the European Centre for Modern Languages (Graz) in co- operation with the Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes. The term "tertiary languages" refers to foreign languages learned after the first foreign language, i.e. as one’s second, third, fourth, etc. foreign language (cf. Hufeisen, 1991). The project focused on the question of how the teaching and learning of tertiary languages can be structured in such a way as to consciously incorporate the learner's existing language knowledge and language learning experience (mother tongue, first foreign language) more efficiently. The sequential constellation of "English as the first foreign language and German as the second one" is common in the foreign language programmes offered in the schools of many countries (with teaching of the first foreign language beginning at the age of 9 to 10 and introduction of the second foreign language at the age of around 13 to 14). For this reason, it was agreed that the present project would be carried out as a co-operative effort by the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz and the Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes in Munich. It should be noted that in the school context learning of the first foreign language has not yet been completed when teaching begins in the subsequent language(s). The institutional organisation of the foreign language programme in schools is thus characterised, on the one hand, by the time sequence in which the individual languages (e.g. German after English) are taught and, secondly, by a learning process in which several foreign languages are learned concurrently at different levels of competence (e.g. learning German with existing knowledge of English). Within the context of the project organisation, at the first two – of a total of five – conferences (Graz 2000, Munich 2001) the fundamental conditions for the concepts